Blandford Forum

East Street

We were in Poole and fancying a walk, but not fancying the high likelihood of heavy mud on the Coast Path, so we decided on an urban walk to explore Blandford. I took the route mainly from the "perambulation" described in Pevsner and was helped by a nice little leaflet downloaded from the Blandford Town Council website.

We arrived in Blandford from the south and found a large car park just across the river Stour. The handsome bridge dates from 1783 and 1812. The river was swollen and muddy after the recent rain.

We walked up West St to reach the Market Place, the centrepiece of the town. Blandford has a remarkably uniform Georgian character and it is all due to the great fire of 1731 which destroyed almost the whole of the centre. The architect-surveyors in charge of rebuilding were the brothers William and John Bastard, who were already important citizens.

On the north side of the Market Place is the stately Town Hall of 1734 - quick work! Inside the pediment over the central window is the wonderful inscription "BASTARD ARCHITECT". We had to chuckle.

To the right of the Town Hall is the fire monument, erected by John Bastard in 1760. It was not merely ornamental, having a head for a water supply for fire hoses in the event of further incendiary problems.

The inscription concludes, "This monument of that dire disaster and provision against the like, is humbly erected by JOHN BASTARD, a considerable sharer in the general calamity". What a lovely phrase.

Behind the monument is the church of St Peter and St Paul of 1733-9, by William and John B. It was hard to photograph as the street in front was clogged with traffic resulting from lorries unloading in the centre of the town. It is a handsome church ("noble" in Pevsner's assessment). The tower and cupola, which are visible from all directions, were for once not the work of the Bastards, who had intended a spire.

We now walked up Salisbury St to find the Ryves Almshouses (described as a Gerontocomium on the plaque under the main pediment). They date from 1682 and make a lovely group. This means that they pre-date the fire and must have been right on the edge of the town when they were built. They are in beautiful condition.

We then walked back down Salisbury st and turned left into a street with the wonderful name of The Plocks and turned right into Church St to pass Coupar House - the "finest post-fire house in Blandford" according to Pevsner.

It is certainly imposing. It is now the home of the local outpost of the Royal British Legion.

Reaching the church, we turned left into East St (see photo at the head of this post). We remarked on Eastway House and were childishly delighted to then read in Pevsner that it is "the only house to deserve comment"in the street.

This part of the town was unaffected by the great fire of 1731, but had already suffered an earlier one in 1714.

We walked to the end, crossed the river and walked back to the car park via a path around the water meadows and then a footbridge.

Conditions: cool, cloudy coming on to rain as we reached The Plocks.

Distance: no more than two miles

Rating: three and a half stars.